telco

This is a letter from telecom lawyer Kris Twomey to the members of FISPA, an association for ISP's and CLEC's. I know that Politics and Regulatory talk puts you to sleep or bores you or you don't have time for it - but these proposed changes to the Telecom Act WILL affect you!

"One of the questions I am often asked by ISPs considering starting CLEC operations is whether access to unbundled network elements ("UNEs" or "the copper in the ground") will continue in the future. My response has always been something like, "Of course, the Telecom Act guarantees it.

While I don't agree with everything that Bruce writes here about AT&T's $14 Billion network spend in the next 3 years, there were a few take aways.

The big one is that the ILEC's have been getting rate hikes for years to pay for fiber that most customers are not receiving. FiOS is where it is - and that's the end of that project. U-Verse is fiber to the node and that isn't deployed everywhere either.

As the carriers look to the VAR space as the new sales channel, I would like to tell the VAR community a few things that they will love about selling telecom.

1) Install dates that are fluid. Porting numbers happen at the whim of the carriers you are porting from. The FOC date (when carriers install circuits) will move without notice or at the most a day's notice.

2) Your current partners - HP, IBM, Microsoft or Cisco - have never snaked a deal from you, but in telecom it will happen often.

The FCC has removed its rules against CLEC-Cable mergers. Right now the M&A department at Comcast, flush with cash, is picking out its next target. "Hey, Guys! Call me if you need help with valuations or choices!"

ATT has verbal one year contracts available. New service ordered within a few minutes for clients via an Authorized Solution Provider (agent). [This has to be for really simple stuff like POTS and DSL.]

However, ATT doesn't send any TAC (terms) or even welcome information to the customer. There is also a failure to mention that the verbal contracts auto-renew for 2 additional one year terms; thus, it's really a 3 year agreement!

Ernst & Young has a report out about the Top 10 Business Risks of the Telecommunications sector. The big one is thinking voice is still going to be the bread winner. Cellcos have gotten the memo that it will be all data all the time for profits. Top US Cablecos understand that too, I think.

Zayo Group announced the formation of a dedicated team focused on Small Cell and Fiber to the Tower (FTT) initiative (in this press release). That's a good idea. In fact, when RAD-INFO INC is consulting on mergers between TDM companies and cloud companies, this is one approach that we have used.